Every day or so, Bruce Anderson strolls out to his front yard to check his library.

He looks to see which books have been taken and if any have been returned. Sometimes he restocks the shelves with a few new titles.

In San Ramon, Chris Bedient performs the same routine at her own library. Sometimes she chats with her library patrons; other times she may conduct a little tour for neighborhood kids.

Anderson and Bedient are members of a special group of independent librarians — called stewards — who oversee more than 25,000 similar little libraries around the world. Dozens exist in the Bay Area.

The tiny libraries are part of the Little Free Library movement, which began in 2009 with a Wisconsin man who had the idea to honor his mother, a former schoolteacher who loved reading, by building a small replica of a one-room schoolhouse, filling it with books, and putting it on a post in his front yard. He included a sign which read “free books.” He had no idea what he’d started.

Today, Little Free Libraries continue to spring up around the world, on every continent except Antarctica. In areas as far-flung as Pakistan, Iceland and Guyana, book lovers have taken it upon themselves to set up their own tiny neighborhood libraries that operate with one simple concept: “Take a book, return a book.”

“California was our No. 1 state in the U.S. last year in terms of new libraries installed,” said Kris Huson, marketing director for the nonprofit LittleFreeLibrary.org. “We know they’re in the Sudan, but they can’t register with us because of the trade embargo. And there’s a new one in India that has just opened in Mumbai, (stewarded) by the daughter of a Bollywood actor.

“They increase exponentially in communities, because once someone sees one, they think about doing it, too,” she added.

There are an estimated 1,400 such libraries on the lawns of private homes, inside company offices and at schools, libraries, book stores and police departments throughout California. Some are simple, others elaborate and whimsical. Those wanting to steward their own library simply buy a prebuilt library or kit from the organization’s online site or opt to build their own (usually from wood, but one in Wisconsin is carved from ice in winters). Still others create a library from an old microwave oven, beer cooler or practically any other waterproof container. There’s no checkout system or overdue fines and the libraries can hold whatever reading material the steward chooses — children’s books, a combined inventory of children’s and adult books, or even specialty reading, such as poetry, science fiction, graphic novels or cookbooks. The goal is simply to share books, reading and a little community goodwill among neighbors.

“There is no formula; everyone has their own spin on it, but universally what they all share is a story that they’ve met more of their neighbors in the first couple of days of putting the library up than in all their previous years of homeownership,” Huson said. “It’s created a sense of belonging in the neighborhood for everyone there; this is the new front stoop. People now have an excuse to swap stories and talk about books. It starts conversations.”

Bruce Anderson’s library has been operating in his Livermore neighborhood for close to two years. He set up his elf-themed version in part as an homage to his book-loving parents, but also to benefit his neighbors.

“At the time, the economic bubble had burst, and cities were having financial problems,” he recalled. “I live on the north side of Interstate 580, and the Springtown Library had to be shut down for the most part. There are all these kids in this neighborhood … and to have them go over to the main library in town (was difficult). This way, when they’re out for a walk or bicycling by, then can stop and see what’s in there. And it’s very cool to watch the kids and parents enjoying the books.”

Chris Bedient erected her library about a year ago after she retired as a paraeducator at Country Club Elementary School in San Ramon.

“I thought, ‘I’m interested in continuing with something having to do with literacy and would love to do something to give back to the community,’ ” she recalled. “I fell in love with the idea.” The library is visited by a wide range of readers, she said.

“I’ve seen people jogging by who stop, walkers who stop, people with babies in strollers who stop, and many, many cars driving out to the library, where people jump out, run over and do the book exchange that way,” she said. “I get older men, women, husbands and wives. It’s been really interesting.”

Like all stewards, Bedient has learned to be comfortable with the knowledge that some books will be taken and not returned, which is just fine.

“The labels I put in them say that they are always a gift, never for sale,” she explained. “If someone finds a book they really love and want to keep, it’s fine with me, but (I hope) they’ll bring another book and donate it back.”

The Little Free Library in front of the Little Rascals Learning Center in Livermore was the first in the Tri-Valley, said co-owner and director Karen Marshall.

“Early literacy is really important, and it’s great to foster the love of reading and having the kids start really young,” she said. “The parents thought it was adorable. They donated books, and we had the kids help fill it up. … They’re free to the community. … When we have visitors who come in to see the school, I tell them to pick a book up on their way out.”

Like many stewards, Marshall often finds stacks of donated books left next to her little library, which helps keep the shelves stocked. Another steward, Julia Parnell, of Livermore, goes the extra mile, rotating books out of her library and donating them to children at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, where she works. Parnell’s library was built using 100-year-old fence boards and includes a warm-weather magazine rack and a wire basket that in the summer holds surplus lemons and plums free for the taking. She sometimes slips sidewalk chalk in with the children’s books and is excited about two upcoming special events at her library: May gardening month, complete with gardening books and seedling giveaway, and a summertime pirate event featuring books of sea tales and a buried treasure hunt.

“Pretty much everybody in the neighborhood comes by,” Parnell says of her library. “In my neighborhood, it’s more about meeting neighbors and talking to them and meeting the kids. I like to share books I enjoyed as a child and new books people recommend.”

The degree of goodwill generated by the little libraries seems to catch everyone by surprise, said the organization’s Kris Huson.

“That’s been the great unintended result of Little Free Libraries,” she said. “We know why reading is important. But what happens around these (libraries), that sense of community — that’s what makes them even more endearing than they are. It’s a little magic box.”

FYI
To learn more about Little Free Libraries, log on to http://littlefreelibrary.org. The site contains details on building and operating a library, along with information on the group’s Kickstarter campaign to bring Little Free Libraries to “book deserts,” communities where financial and transportation barriers limit access to books.

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